


Seachange

by whosays_penultimate



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Conspiracy, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Rivalry, Satire, Slurs, Swearing, no beta we die under the Pooh-rain, not really funny though?, use of real life events
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 16:57:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18254027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whosays_penultimate/pseuds/whosays_penultimate
Summary: How do you crown a new king?You kill the reigning one.





	Seachange

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Like with any RPF, this story is COMPLETE FICTION. Please don’t yell at me for anything I’ve written here, okay? Unless it’s the good kind of yelling, that I like ;) Also, I was gonna lock this one fic, but this morning I woke up to see that the field where I was growing my fucks somehow got barren overnight, so....I don’t know, I may still lock it at some point who knows *shrug* 
> 
> The inspiration for this story was a tweet by yuzuspiration: https://twitter.com/yuzuspiration/status/1109476068472303616 Thank you for allowing me to write this story and the support! <3
> 
> So it might be difficult to follow the narrative so I’ll just explain it in this brief summary that the story follows basically a series of conversations across the passage of time, between a Mr. X (blue-eyed guy always wearing a black trenchcoat for easier identification :D) who is like an influential hidden figure representing ISU’s best interests, sort of like a “shadow government” within ISU, occasionally accompanied by Mr. Y, (an older balding guy who always seems to get interrupted, just as he’s protesting/expressing an opinion because Mr. X is a self-sufficient dick lol), as well as various skaters. The topic of conversations? ‘How do you solve a problem like Yuzuru?’

  1. Javi



“Mr. Fernandez, we would like a word.”

Javier looked around – he thought he was alone in the hallway, but now he found himself facing two men, both of them sporting ISU badges. The one who had addressed him was wearing a long black trench coat, and his eyes were blue and piercing. The other, an older man with thinning hair, was trailing behind. The statement was phrased like a request but Javier could tell that that was only a formality. The men looked like officials and they would get what they wanted anyway, so Javier nodded, and acquiesced, even though he was tired:

“Yes, about?”

“Your training partner, Mr. Hanyu.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to speak to Brian, or someone else from his team if you want information, I—“

“Not for what we have in mind.”

“What’s this about?” Javier asked, by now a little unsettled.

“Be honest. What do you think about Mr. Hanyu?”

“A very talented, hard working young man. I’m proud to train alongside him,” Javier recited.

“....We’re not the press, Mr. Fernandez. We are with the ISU, as you can see by our badges. Please be honest with us.”

“I was quite honest.”

“Not a flicker of resentment for your rival who showed up at your rink to steal your coach and then steal the show altogether, in fact?”

Javier frowned, beginning to get annoyed.

“Don’t you think Mr. Hanyu is a little.... a little _too much_ , for an athlete?” the other man chimed in. “What do you think about his cult-like following?”

“...What exactly do you want me to say here?” Javier asked, trying to keep his voice even.

“Okay....We’ll come straight to the point. It has become a concern to us that this star of our sport that Mr. Hanyu undoubtedly is, and whom we’ve been very grateful to have in the beginning – _or so we thought_ , is starting to be more trouble than he’s worth, as time passes.”

“Trouble?” Javier couldn’t help an amused chuckle. “The boy lives with his mother and never even goes out. He always bows to people, he even bows to _me_. I’ve never met someone less inclined to cause trouble.”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s lovely. But as we are not fortunate enough to know Mr. Hanyu in private, we are talking about his public persona. For one, the way he breaks records like it’s nothing, that makes the system – _our system_ look like a joke. Those scores are there for a reason, Mr. Fernandez – they are there as _unreachable_ , _untouchable_ ideals, not to be routinely brushed against like it’s nothing. I’m sure that’s made you and other people feel inadequate, and for good reason-“

“It’s never made me feel inadequate”, Javier interrupted, incredulously. “It sparked a flame in me like not even my coach could manage to ignite. Because Yuzuru is _that_ good, I wanted to be better myself – I _believed_ I could be better. It’s made me get out of bed when I felt I didn’t want to do anything-“ he stopped abruptly when he realized he was falling again into the familiar habit of oversharing things with strangers, and he really didn’t want to have these two know more about him than absolutely necessary.

“That’s not everything, though”, the blue-eyed man continued, smoothly. “Mr Hanyu is not really like an athlete should be, isn’t that right? More like an idol – he is showy, and extra, inciting a little too much adoration in the hoards of screaming fans. And my, how they scream. I know better than to attend any skating events without my trusted ear plugs these days-“

“You might well snicker at that, Mr. Fernandez”, the older man picked up, “but it’s become almost scandalous. This is a sport, not a k-pop concert. For instance, look at those _toys_ thrown onto the ice in vast numbers after he skates. Surely they’ve bothered you a lot when you skated after him.”

“The Poohs? Ah yeah that’s funny... They’re usually cleared pretty fast, though. The first couple of times it threw me off a bit, but then I got used to it.”

“It’s psychological warfare.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s why they’re doing it, the fans – and Hanyu is encouraging them. It’s meant to throw you off when you skate after him.”

Javier threw his head back and laughed.

“It’s not so bad.”

“Are you really saying that it has never affected you mentally?”

“Even if it did, what are you suggesting? Like, this conversation is entertaining and all, but what do you want from _me_?”

“To conclude”, the blue-eyed man said sharply, “we believe that Mr. Hanyu has unbalanced our sport to such an extent, that we must take measures to have it corrected and in doing so.... eliminate any unfair advantage. And this is where you come in – who better than you, Mr. Fernandez – Javier, can I call you Javier? We’ve been watching you, _Javi,_ and believe that you deserve more. You deserve to be a champion.”

“I can assure you, I’m doing all I can for that to happen.”

“I’m sure you are. No one is doubting your dedication. But maybe you also need a little help. A little...confidence boost, so to speak—to offset the mindgames of your greatest rival. So we would like you to skate with the knowledge that, if you make no glaring mistakes, you’ll be rewarded _princely_ by the judges.”

“....I’m not sure I understand.”

“Plainly: go clean or nearly clean and you’re sure to win. Even if Hanyu goes clean too.”

“His clean might be better than mine.”

“Not if we have a say in it.”

“Do you mean...rigged scoring? Gentlemen, who _are_ you?” Javier took a few steps back, unwillingly.

“Javier, you’ve been in the sport long enough, you’ve worked with Nikolai Morozov, you know better than to believe in fairytales. Scores aren’t rigged. They can be however – tilted slightly – in favour of – _someone_ or _other_.”

“Okay, okay....” Javier’s ears were ringing and a part of him was unwilling to admit he was hearing these things, but he was quick to reach a decision. “That’s settled then. If Yuzu goes clean, then I’ll be sure to self-destruct, just so you can never get to do this.”

“....That’s some extreme loyalty for a man who at the end of the day is nothing more than a rival to you. Don’t you want to win? Imagine what it would mean, for your country, for your family....”

“I would never want to win unfairly.”

“Oh, so it’s that good old Spanish pride that eats at you. I see, I see. Well, I guess I’ll catch you on the other side of the system, my hotblooded friend.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, you’ll see...”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean? Just so you know, I’ll be telling my coach about this!”

“Who, good old Brian? Oh, he knows how the system works, he’s been in it long enough. Do tell him, though! Tell him I’d also like to meet him for a coffee and a fag one of these days. Sorry, I meant a chat. A coffee and a _chat_.”

“....I’ll tell Yuzu about it, too. Just to make sure there’s never any misunderstandings between us.”

The man shrugged, as he brushed his lapels with an irritated frown:

“Feel free to tell him. Maybe it’s better to have all this out in the open. I’m sure it won’t be pleasant for Hanyu to find out that there are some people out there who are not, in fact, adoring him. Might come as a rude awakening. Perhaps a very _refreshing_ one.” A wide smile. “ _So do tell him_.”

 

*

Javier’s English wasn’t the very best, and Yuzuru’s even less so, but Javier managed to convey, during a late-night conversation that followed the banquet – that there were _things_ not quite _right_ with the system they were both a part of. And yes, Javier wasn’t a stranger to crooked business, having seen since junior days how skaters with bigger federations to support them got much bigger scores, and the reputation of the coaches was a surefire way to get people noticed and rewarded, and how the Russians always seemed to get bigger scores than just about anyone else....but still – this was a whole new level of crookedness: a systematic attempt to bring down one single man, because he was too good – too different – too unpredictable – too _loved_? It tore at Javier in new and strange ways, because this man was his training partner and his friend, and Javier genuinely admired everything that made Yuzuru special.

“I’ll always protect you. I’ll always look out for you. Now that I know there are people out there who think you’re not worth it”, Javier said, feelingly. “I’m the only one who knows what it’s like, the blood and sweat and tears that we put into it every day, and the things you manage to do, Yuzu...how can people think you’re not worth it?”

“It’s fine, Javi”, Yuzuru said cheerfully. He didn’t look affected in the slightest by what Javier had told him, but Javier had an inkling this was probably a mask that Yuzuru casually slipped on so that he wouldn’t appear weak. He wished Yuzuru wouldn’t feel the need to act this way around him, too – they were friends, weren’t they?

Javier was just thinking about how to express that thought, when Yuzuru went on:

“I always know I have to work hard – harder than everyone else, just to keep what I have. Thank you, Javi. I respect you forever. And I will always look out for you too. We protect each other, yes? We are not enemies, right?”

“Never. Yuzu, never. Not us. We’re friends”, Javier answered, relieved, and squeezed Yuzuru’s hand.

“We are _nakama_ ”, Yuzuru pronounced, nodding for emphasis, and Javier grinned, because he knew the meaning of that word, and he thought it made such beautiful sense for the two of them, that he searched for Yuzuru’s hand and squeezed it into his own, to show that he fully agreed.

“I want to – continue,” Yuzuru said, earnestly, stammering slightly around the word.

“I want to continue, too.”

“Let’s both do our best.”

If they hugged each other a little tighter, if they sought each other in the darkness with heavy breaths and clutching fingers, if lips brushed hair and skin in their quest for closeness, none of them mentioned it the next day.

 

  1. Shoma



 “Do you have a moment, Mr. Uno?”

“For what?” Shoma asked, confused. He frowned, wincing slightly. The man addressing him had a white complexion and blue eyes, wearing a high ISU official pass, and a black trenchcoat, and like most such people, he was standing a little too close. He looked slightly familiar but Shoma couldn’t place him. Nor did he particularly want to. A moment was precisely how much time Shoma wanted for this conversation to last, but he had a sinking feeling it wouldn’t be the case. The man’s blue eyes looked sharp and serious. Shoma winced again as the screams in the arena rose to nearly orgasmic heights, Shoma supposed Yuzuru did something cute again, but didn’t turn to look. The unknown man however, did, and then grinned, rather unpleasantly.

“Look at that”, he said, with a grand gesture, but he wasn’t pointing towards Yuzuru, but towards the crowd. “Look at how they all scream for _him_. Don’t you want to be adored like that, little one?”

Shoma rolled his eyes inwardly at the condescending appelative, but merely shrugged, choosing to answer honestly, with a little self deprecating smile:

“I don’t know, I think I’d rather just be liked. Being adored is tiresome. And I can’t do what Yuzu does. No way, I’m nowhere near yet.”

“Yes, but if you could be ? Do you have it in you?”

“I try to always do my best. But Yuzu-kun is always better than me.”

“ _Yuzu-kun_ is already a minefield of injuries, sustaining himself only with painkillers and sheer grit. It’s sad but I’m being realistic. He’s had a good run. But he’s going to go away very soon, it’s inevitable, and leave us with a lot of empty seats. We need a replacement _before_ that happens, not after. We need a new king before we can bury the old. So I’m asking you now – be the one to carry the torch from now on, Shoma. Yuzu-kun himself could wish for nothing better than this – you as his successor. Nationals this year will be your moment of glory when you surpass Hanyu and rise as the new king.”

“But what if he beats me at Nationals? There’s no way that I can say for sure-“

“Don’t you understand? We’ll _help_. You just need to do your program as well as you can, just make sure not to fall on your butt. The judges will take care of the rest.”

“....That’s not fair, though, is it?”

“.. _.Fair_ ? You innocent child.... Nothing in this world that brings money is ever fair.”

Shoma was shaking his head, bewildered, as the unknown man started to retreat, still staring him in the eye intently.

“You don’t have to do anything else except what you’ve always done – your very best”, he murmured, as he put distance between them, “do that, and we’ll take care of the rest.” With one last meaningful look at Shoma, he walked away.

 

After Worlds 2017 in Helsinki, Shoma saw the man again. But then, his mood was completely different than on their first meeting. He had told no one about his encounter and decided to dismis the whole thing as ridiculous, someone playing a prank on him. People seemed to do that - play pranks on him - for some reason or other.

So when the same man, wearing the same black trenchcoat (even though the frigid Finnish weather warranted more), appeared out of he shadows, and stepped towards him, Shoma blanched and shook his head vigurously, as words poured out of him, frantic but determined:

“No, no, I can’t do this. Please, leave me alone. Just let me do my thing. I just want to skate. I don’t care about your games. Yuzu-kun doesn’t deserve this. Did you see what he just did? Did you see _that_?”

“Oh, I saw it alright, which only enforces my willingness to put a stop to this insanity once and for all. I am considering a change of scoring altogether, and you will be its new herald—“

“I don’t want to win like this”, Shoma interrupted fiercely. “I don’t want to win with your help! I don’t deserve it, either.”

“Is that why you’re always trailing behind, despite our best efforts to push you forward?” the man asked, anger evident in his voice, barely contained. “To mess this up for us? You could do better, right, if you only put your mind to it?.... Ohoho, you’re playing with fire, kid.”

“I don’t care. Go away,” Shoma repeated.

“Shoma, we have pulled you up, but we can also pull you down, make no mistake.”

“I won’t - make mistakes”, Shoma spit out through cracked lips. “So you won’t get the chance to pull me down. And if I do, those mistakes are mine, and I’ll live with them and do better next time.”

The man nodded, recognizing there was no getting through to the boy in front of him when he was in this mood.

“You’ll get another chance at the Grand Prix Finals and then, at the Nationals this year. Don’t waste it,” he said with another one of his trademark meaningful looks, and left without another word.

Shoma was the only person in the world who felt relieved hearing that Yuzuru would miss the GPF and Nationals before the Olympics, but he couldn’t tell anyone about it or why. In another part of the world, two people were discussing the matter amid a haze of smoke, the blue-eyed man in the black trenchcoat and his trusted sidekick, the older man with thinning hair.

“Have you heard? Hanyu got injured. He’s gonna miss GPF and Nationals too.”

“....Damnit. The timing couldn’t be more unfortunate.... Is he playing with us now? Tell me, why can’t we trust anyone these days?”

“So you think Hanyu is faking his injury?”

“Whether he is, or isn’t, is irrelevant to me. This is putting a dent in my best laid plans, and before the Olympics too... Oh well, no matter. A king shall be crowned in absentia at the Grand prix finals. A king who will then go on to win the Olympics.”

“Shoma?”

“Hmm...  With Hanyu and Fernandez not in it, my bets are on Shoma, but who knows what may happen. Let’s see. This is finally exciting! It’s exciting isn’t it, not knowing what will happen, who will win? Instead of just having one man show up and soar so outrageously, leaving everyone else trailing behind in the dust, how boring, how predictable. Who wants to watch something like this? Now – _now_ we’ll have a fight on our hands... Let’s have the lads battle it out for real. Get a feel of the crowd as well. Let’s see who can handle pressure better.”

“So who should we support?”

“Hmmmm. Let’s not put all our eggs in one basket, as the say, it wouldn’t be wise. Let’s show our enthusiastic support not only to Shoma, but also to Nathan Chen. Well? What do you think?”

“I think that’s a great idea.” 

 

*

“A time deduction, Shoma – really?” the man in the black trenchcoat snickered, not bothering to hide his disdain at the results of the grand prix final in Nagoya. “Did you see?” he addressed his ever-present companion. “Shoma just lost the GPF title because of a freaking time deduction. He moved his fingers or something after the music stopped playing for his free program.” He shook his head in exasperation. “And this is the guy I trusted to replace Hanyu.... losing the title like an idiot by less than a full point....”

“Oh I think a point was well made”, the older man quipped, hiding a smile. “I can’t help liking this young fellow, you know.”

His younger colleague threw him a dark look.

“So you think Shoma was messing with us? _Again?_ Well, I hope he enjoys his hard-earned silver. I don’t care about him anymore. Let him do what he wants. After this season ends, he’s off our support. We have a new star, and that’s Nathan.”

“Maybe this time we shouldn’t....be so forward about telling them what this is about, I mean, right away,” the older man advised. “We shouldn’t tell Nathan in so many words what our plans are.”

“Yeah.... that hasn’t been working very well for us so far, has it? We’ll just ease Nathan into it, then.”

“Not a word about Hanyu, then?”

“Not a word about anyone. Just about himself and how good he is. Gotta make him _believe it_.”

 

  1. Nathan



“Congratulations on the GPF gold, Nathan.”

“Thank you. I know, I have a lot to improve.”

“Nonsense! You’re already a well-rounded skater! Your Nemesis is a thing of beauty. Pulled me out of my seat, it did! Congratulations again, it’s an honour!”

“Thank you!” Nathan repeated, almost blushing, as his hand was forcefully shaken.”

“Some people are gonna tell you that you’re not artistic enough, that you don’t have enough transitions in your programs....don’t listen to them, that’s baby talk. You can jump, yes?”

“Well...yes.”

“If you can jump, you’ve got all it takes to be a champion! This is a sport, isn’t it? _Isn’t it_?”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. It’s about the technical content first.”

“Attaboy! We’re on the same page my boy, I’m happy! I can see you rise to unprecedented heights, Nathan. I can see it in you. You’re made for big things. The youngest Olympic champion in history.... how does that sound?”

“You mean the youngest man, right? Because...”

“Yeah, yeah of course, of course. But what do you think, boy? Do you have it in you, to go on to the biggest stage and _win_?”

“Haha, I don’t know! I guess we’ll see... There are many others who are so good, Yuzuru of course, and Javier Fernandez, and Shoma too...but I’m going to do my best. I certainly want to win! It would be very nice.”

“Nice? Nice?? It would be _fantastic_! You’d be the king! Your country would worship you-“

“-well, those who know about figure skating, at least”, Nathan quipped.

“We’ll make you even more famous than that, boy. Don’t worry. You just hold your end, and do your best. We’re right behind you every step of the way.”

“Thank you for your support!”

Nathan retreated with a happy smile on his face, while the older man whispered to the younger:

“Do you think Hanyu will make the Olympics?”

“I don’t know”, the man in the black trenchcoat replied, still watching Nathan’s retreating back. “And at this point, I don’t really care. Let him come. Then his defeat there will be even more meaningful. A change of the guard, people will say. I can just read the headlines.”

“But what if Hanyu comes and he’s ready for it?” the older man insisted. “You know how he is – we just don’t know what to expect. We’ve been trying to find out things but TCC is such a tight-knit group, there are no leaks of information happening....”

“No matter what he does”, the blue-eyed man interrupted, “he won’t get a record at the Olympics. I’ll make sure all the judges get that memo. No records for Hanyu at the Olympics, no matter what he does. And Nathan will take care of the rest. He has a bunch of wonderful quads, what more is there to ask for?? Sometimes I think people are idiots.”

“Nathan is so young, though. What if he can’t handle the pressure? Hanyu is a sneaky old fox with many mindgames up his sleeve. Nathan is doing great but I’m still a littled unsettled.”

“It’s gonna be fine, the kid has a good head on his shoulders. And mind games can sometimes turn against the one who casts them. We’ll see what happens.”

 

The older man was right to worry. Nathan caved under the immense pressure during the short program. Even though he rallied back in the free, there was no way for him to make up for the gap in points.

The black-trenchcoat man was fuming. All his best laid plans were thwarted at the most important moment – Yuzuru Hanyu, the man for whom he had been cooking a momentous defeat had soared to a truly historic victory. And as in true mockery, the ones happily joining him on the podium were the very men whom he had approached and offered the crown – only to have them turning it down out of some stupid sense of loyalty and sportsmanship.

 _What was it about this Yuzuru Hanyu that inspired such intense feelings in people?_ the black-trenchcoat man reflected, not for the first time, as he watched, with barely concealed disgust, how he pointed towards a sign in the crowd, clutched at his chest and mouthed ‘arigatou’ – the crowd going crazy even at that small gesture. The blue-eyed man tried to read the sign but it was in Chinese, and he shrugged, rolling his eyes skywards and asked whichever gods dwelled there for strength and patience. And a breakthrough.

A voice next to him made him startle:

“I told you Nathan will crack under pressure! He’s only 18!”

“Yeah, well, what do you want?” he answered, in a prissy voice. “A ‘be-able-to-predict-things- award?”

The older man chuckled:

“Not at all. But we’re back to square one, it seems. Who else do we have? There are rumours Fernandez is retiring, Shoma is still as stubborn as they come... There’s this American kid, Vincent Zhou who has big jumps although the technique is ....”

“Pffft! We’ve pushed bad technique for years, that’s not a concern. I thought about him too, but the kid is charmless. Can’t work with him. We need someone who can work the crowds, remember? Hold their attention.... someone who would get cheers just for mouthing arigatou like Hanyu did just now, or for unzipping his jacket, remember that one time? Are you telling me that’s gonna be Zhou?”  

“Well, no. But perhaps we shouldn’t be thinking in such grand terms just yet. Let’s settle for someone who has the technical content and PC leverage so that him beating Hanyu is at least a bit realistic to the people.... the star quality may come in time...I’ve been watching all the men carefully, and there is this exciting Chinese kid, the one with the big lutz, you must have noticed him.”

“Yeah, I noticed him alright. Unless he steps up to a famous coach, the PCs will always hold him back, you know how it goes. Besides, I wouldn’t like propping up anyone from that particular federation.”

“Yes but desperate times call for desperate measures. And maybe there’s something to be done about the coach thing...,” the older man said, smiling, and his younger companion turned to watch him, curiously. “I’ve been pulling some strings by myself, you see. What would you say if Boyang Jin were to move to Canada to train under Brian Orser?”

 

Down in the arena, Javier had just finished telling Yuzuru that this competition would be their last together, and Yuzuru was breaking down, visibly and dramatically. Shoma could only guess what was happening, but when Yuzuru sobbed and clung to Javier, saying  “No, _no – I can’t do this without you_ –“, he suddenly realized that Javier too, must have been proposed the very same strange deal that Shoma was, at some point, and Javier too, must have refused. Shoma also realized that Yuzuru must also know about all this. What a weight of knowledge to have everytime you stepped onto the ice. Yuzuru gripped at Javier like he was the only one keeping him standing, but Javier wouldn’t be there for long.

What would happen now?

Shoma was tired, and he tried to hide from the cameras in Yuzuru and Javier’s cloying embrace. He didn’t want to think about the future – only about the fact that this win was theirs, together, in this moment - perhaps their final real victory, hard-gained and unlikely – as for what came next – there was only uncertainty. The rules would be changing again, the system would yet once more receive an arbitrary shake-up, and Shoma knew he was unlikely to benefit from it.

Yuzuru and Javier were still holding on to each other, eyes closed and heads close together, breathing each other in, seemingly thriving on each other’s closeness They truly loved each other, Shoma realized, both touched and unsettled to be included in such a private moment. And now that Javier would retire, all that would end too. What else would end? As if in answer to Shoma’s thoughts, Javier turned to him, and told him something earnestly, gesturing towards Yuzuru. Shoma nodded, wondering if he was being asked to take care of Yuzuru now. He could barely take care of himself, but that was a given. He’d rather self destruct than win over Yuzuru unfairly.

 

  1. Boyang



“So kid, are you excited to go to TCC? Be coached by the famous Brian Orser! Train with the even more famous Yuzuru Hanyu! Lucky boy!”

“I’m not going to Canada anymore, I’ve changed my mind.”

“....What?? And to what do we owe your sudden change of heart?”

“I just....I just think that I’ll miss home.”

“....Who did you talk to?”

“I will fight to be better. But back at home.”

“Kid, I asked you a question. _Who_ have you been talking to?”

The voice of the man in the black trench coat rose to shrill heights, and Boyang winced.

“N-no one”, he stammered. “I just-“

“You think you can throw aside such an opportunity, just like that? You’ll see what you get for defying me! You’re _nothing_ without our support! You’re worthless!”

Boyang’s eyes filled with tears, but he shook his head:

“I’ll – keep on fighting and –“

“You can fight until you’re bloodless”, the blue-eyed man answered viciously. “I’ll be sure to fuck you up. You got no chance, you hear me, unless you do what I say!”

“Still....”, Boyang sniffed, then spoke up with new resolve: “I’ll take my chances.”

“God, I can’t believe all of you, throwing chances away just like this! Do you think Hanyu would do the same for you? No, he wouldn’t! He’s selfish, he only cares about himself.”

Boyang looked confused for a moment, but then he said:

“I have to go.”

“Go to hell for all I care....stubborn Chink...”, the black-trenchcoat man spit out through clenched teeth and turned on his heels to leave.

 

“This season”, he told his colleague murderously the next time he met him, “I’m gonna fuck up everyone, but Fernandez, Uno, and Jin in particular. Tech calls, PCs... Gonna start a witch hunt of UR-s like you’ve never seen before.”

“Fernandez is retiring, isn’t he? He’ll be at Europeans though, I think.”

“I don’t care. I’m gonna bring that Spanish hero down a notch as well, it’s high time for that too. No seventh title for him. Time for a change in Europe as well. The only man who’s getting hyped this year is Nathan Chen – he’s the only one who hasn’t let me down so far, so I want it shouted from the rooftops.”

“So I take it things didn’t work well with Boyang. I’m sorry. I really had high hopes for him.”

“Sorry to tell you but all your best efforts turned to naught. Jin is a stubborn annoying kid, and he didn’t want to tell me the reason for his sudden change of heart. Anyway, screw him. I talked to Nathan and he said he’s craving one more chance to show what he’s capable of. I do believe he’s ready now. He’s learned a lesson at the Olympics, and now he came back stronger. He knows what he wants, he’s calm, collected. He’s also at the peak of his athletic life. We won’t get a better opportunity. Everyone else must be _levelled_. Put as much distance between him and the rest, so people can clearly see he rises above, even before he meets Hanyu at GPF. And when he does, we’ll finally have our showdown.”

 

*

“Fucking hell! Hanyu’s injured himself _again_?? What—How?? Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with this guy?”

The older man started:

“He was jumping a 4 Loop in practice and—“

“I don’t give a FUCK if he was jumping a loop or from the fucking airplane!” the younger one barked.

“But you asked how—“

“And I suppose it’s the same old story now – missing Nationals, missing GPF.... maybe learning the quad axel in secret all this time!”

“Um, I don’t think so, I saw the x-rays of his ankle, you see and---“

“How can people stand for this? Look, I’m asking you, as a reasonable person, would you stand for this, as a fan? Would you put up with all this from your favourite skater?”

A shrug was the only answer.

“I don’t have a horse in this race. But I suppose people are invested.”

“We need to find a way to uninvest them, and fast.”

“Isn’t that what we’ve been trying to do all this time?” the older man sighed. “But so far, we’ve only achieved the opposite... Hanyu’s popularity grows daily... more and more people are getting to know him and once they do, they follow only him, they don’t care about the sport, they diss us all the time...it’s a nightmare.... Where are you going?” he inquired, as the black trenchcoat man had stood up and was heading towards the exit.

“I have to think about this for a while....make some phone calls...this – Hanyu’s injury, might turn out to be a blessing in disguise...if he really is injured, I wouldn’t put it past him to be faking it.”

 

 5\. Denouement

 

Two weeks later, in the same dimlit room, the black-trenchcoat man was much more calm. A glimmer of hope and excitement was sparkling in his steely blue eyes.

“Hanyu is indeed injured and missing the GPF and Nationals, just like we surmised. Let him do it. This suits us just fine. Let people get used to his absence as much as possible, maybe some of his fans will move on to others. Let Hanyu hide away for now. It’s even better this way. We’ll have almost an entire season to rise our new star to unprecedented heights. At Nationals, our boy Nathan will show the world his mettle. Everyone will be stunned speechless by his prowess. They might need a little expert help to do that and that’s why I’m gonna talk to Weir.... he owes me a few things, like when I helped him keep his spot at NBC, and now it’s finally time for him to pay it back. So Weir will be sure to praise Nathan to high heaven, and proclaim his superiority to Yuzuru. The people these days, they need to be _told_ explicitly, what to do, how to feel, otherwise they just don’t get it. So Weir will tell them. He’s Hanyu’s hero, isn’t he? These words form his mouth will hold all the weight.”

“Hmmmm but....will Johnny actually do that? You know he tends to do whatever he wants.”

“Not this time, not if he wants to keep his job, and those Louboutins and Chanel bags and whatnot that he’s so fond of don’t come cheap”, came the sneering reply. “Ohh, I’m gonna be ready this time. Fully ready. I’ll leave nothing to chance, you hear me, _nothing_! It’s personal now. I feel that I’ve been made a fool of for so long....”

“It’s certainly been frustrating”, the older man agreed, with a sigh.

“The end of this season, that’s when we’ll set up for the great battle. Hanyu will have to come to Worlds, even bloody limping. We’ll spring him a trap he can’t refuse. At home, in Japan. Everything set up for a big win for the home champion. Let the adoring crowds come and witness it. Lure them with cherry blossoms, his face on all the banners, goddamn music boxes, the promise of spring. And then present the new world order. Nathan will rise as the new king – whether they like it or not, it will happen and people will just have to swallow it and take a bow.”

“But what if....they’ll be mad? Surely big crowds are unpredictable and...”

“In Japan? No, no, they’ll be extremely polite. They’ll clap and cheer because it’s the polite thing to do. They won’t dare break face for a moment. Just to be extra certain though....make sure as little foreigners as possible are there... We don’t want trouble.”

“...I’ll see what I can do about the tickets. But, are you sure Nathan can hold his own? And what if Hanyu does something outrageous, like the quad axel he’s been talking about...”

“Hahaha! Don’t you get it? The quad axel is a myth! It’s the sword in the stone, the secret weapon he uses to scare his opponents and make his fans gush that he’s the greatest of all time! _It doesn’t exist_. It’s not even close to existing. And Hanyu is on his last leg. _Literally._ I’ve got insiders at TCC now, I know what I’m talking about. His ligament is in shreds, he’s hooked on painkillers, he struggles with jumps. I can imagine he’s like a cornered beast now, ready to try anything, but that’s fine. Let Hanyu try and play whatever mind games he wants with Nathan and everyone else. This time my boy Nathan’s got the leverage, and I’ll make sure he keeps his head and skates clean. That’s all we need for a win, regardless of how Hanyu does. But I’m gonna do everything in my power to see that Hanyu struggles. Just because I want to hurt his pride, not because the judges need any more persuading to do the right thing. The ice condition, for one, that’s not gonna be ideal, I’m gonna see to that myself. That will be alright for Nathan though, because he’s younger and injury-free and I’ll get him to train for a week in those exact same ice conditions....  The state of the ice will probably also fuck up everyone else too, but at this point I don’t care. This is about setting up Nathan as the undoubted champion, so he needs to get a big lead against everyone else. But just in case Nathan loses his head, I’ve got a backup, although I’d be happy not to have to use it.”

“I don’t suppose you mean Boyang or Shoma so....the other American, the charmless one?”

“Yeah. Zhou.”

“But what if, even like this, Hanyu shows up and he’s so good that he breaks a record or something, out of nowhere? He’s done it before! Hell, it’s all that he’s been doing, whenever people thought he was toast, he went and he---“

“...Are you a fan now too? Don’t you get it? Let him break a record, damnit. Then Nathan will skate right after and he’ll _break it again_. That way people will finally know that not even when their beloved hero breaks records is he invicible. I want to see Hanyu – and his fans, humiliated – there’s no other way to get the message across. The king is dead. Long live the king.”

 

*

“Oh my god, that actually worked! It worked....I was having doubts, this time too.”

“You underestimated me, then”, the man in the black trenchcoat sneered. “There were no doubts this time, only certainty. I told you I’d leave nothing to chance.”

 “Except Hanyu did break a record....”

“Yes, and my boy Nathan broke it back! Let that be the narrative then - a true battle between champions but with one undeniable victor! This is better than I could’ve hoped for! Some of his fans are already eating it up, it’s fantastic! Better than I could’ve hoped! Now all we need is some good old fashioned street cred to solidify things. That interview with Fernandez, is it still on the table?”

“Yeah, it’s been arranged.”

“Perfect. Our old friend Javier Fernandez. Everyone loves Javi, right?”

“But I don’t understand. Javier would never say anything against Yuzuru. He’s sure to praise his performance and—“

“We don’t need him to say anything against Hanyu. Let him praise his Yuzu to high heaven. Even better. Just get him to admit that Nathan is very good – that he has improved, that he’s a complete skater now, stuff like that. For every good word for Hanyu, I want an equally good word about Nathan. Remind him he’s signed on to SOI, that’s surely a gig he wants to keep, right? It’s a super good gig, but you gotta play by the rules if you get it.”

“Okay, I’ll see how we can work with that. I’ll send someone trustworthy and pretty to interview him. And American.”

 

*

It was almost five years since Yuzuru and Javier huddled together on a balcony after the banquet and held hands and talked about the future with uncertainty but hope.

When they met after the banquet after the world championships in Saitama, the mood was rather different. Javier walked towards Yuzuru and pulled him a little away for some privacy.

 “Yuzu, I’m sorry for....well, for all this,” he said awkwardly, certain that he didn’t have to explain what ‘all this’ meant, and Yuzuru would know.

“It’s okay, Javi”, Yuzuru replied, just like the first time. His face was smooth and bright and his eyes were clear. If they were a little red-rimmed at the edges, few people would notice. “I understand. You need people. Must be careful what you say. And you already say and do a lot before. It’s fine.”

“Yuzu....”

“No, don’t- please don’t – It’s fine.”

“Yuzu! Are we still friends?”

“Yes, yes. You still do shows with Fantasy on ice...”

“That’s not what I asked. Are we okay, Yuzu, the two of us? Are we still _nakama_?”

“Yes, Javi always has special existence for m-“

“Stop it, Yuzu, stop feeding me media lines! Look I had no choice, I’m sorry. You know how I feel, about you, about all this, you _know_ —“

“I know....I know Javi probably wants never to meet me, never to know me. It’s difficult, yes. I’m sorry. I have to go now.”

“Wait, Yuzu. Just tell me--- are you okay?.... What are you going to do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Next season....how is your ankle.... I mean, are you really gonna up your tech content?”

Silence.

“Please, Yuzu, I’m worried about you, what are you gonna do?”

“You mean next season? .... You’ll see.”

“Yuzu, you aren’t trusting me anymore to tell me?”

“You said once I was mystery, yes, Javi? Well, I must keep being mystery. You’ll see.”

 

~_~ The END (?)

 

_‘This time losing felt good, incredibly refreshing actually.’_

_-Yuzuru Hanyu_


End file.
